The Beat of His Heart
by RabidSquishy
Summary: Description: A KuroKen fanfiction. Just two volleyball boys in love with each other. There will probably be a lot of fluff. Some drama. Maybe some smut at some point. Let's see where this goes.
1. one

_Up, up, left, left, left, right._

Kenma's fingers tapped the buttons on his PSP as he walked, one foot in front of the other. He barely glanced up to look at where he was going, but he figured there was no point. With Kuroo walking right next to him, he didn't need to see. He was his eyes, and Kenma didn't have to deal with a monotonous walk without getting to play his newest game.

Kuroo was rambling off about the practice they were walking home from. There were times when Kuroo preferred to stay late, but usually he choose to walk home with his setter. Kenma glanced up from his game for a moment to look over the captain's face. He looked extremely excited about something, and Kenma almost wished he would have been paying more attention to what he was talking about so he'd know why. Asking now just felt rude.

Kuroo must have noticed that Kenma looked over at him, because he looked down and gave him a smile. Kenma's cheeks felt warm, blushing slightly, but that was nothing new to him. It was a common side effect of Kuroo smiling directly at him. Kuroo had been his best friend since they were young, and he held a spot in Kenma's heart that no one even came close to. The setter wasn't very expressive about it, but Kuroo was special to him. If he were being honest with himself, he'd go as far as to say he had quite the crush on him. However, denial was clearly the blond's other best friend. "So, you'll hang out with me tonight, right?"

"Hm?" Kenma tilted his head to the side ever so slightly. Having not been paying attention, he had no idea where that had come from. Either way, he supposed it didn't really matter. It was a simple enough question. "Sure." Kuroo's face lit up from his answer, and Kenma's blush darkened. Cat-like eyes shot back down to his game, unwilling to let the other see.

"Great! I'll probably go home first though for a while, and then come back after dinner," Kuroo told him, as he folded his arms before bringing one hand up to scratch his chin, looking as though he were in deep thought about the whole thing.

"You don't want to eat together?" Kenma's voice sounded monotone, but he was a little disappointed. His fingers pushed the buttons rapidly on his PSP as he suddenly found himself fighting the level's boss.

"It's not that, I just have a few things to do bef- KENMA!" Suddenly Kuroo's hands grabbed onto Kenma's shoulders and pulled him backwards. The game flew out of his hands, but Kenma reached out and caught it as the back of his head bumped into Kuroo's chest. He finally looked to observe his scene and acknowledged the honking noises of multiple cars. Kenma blinked a few times, realizing that he was just about to become a pancake had he actually walked into that street.

The blond turned his head upward and Kuroo loomed over to look over him, hands still on his shoulders. His eyes were wider than usual, his breathing a little more erratic. He looked like he'd just been scared half to death despite the fact that Kenma was the one who'd almost become roadkill. Kenma's straight lips turned downward into a frown. His heart felt like it was sinking further into his chest the longer he took in Kuroo's expression. "You need to watch where you're going!"

"I'm sorry... I just..." Kenma looked down, unable to bear that expression much longer. "I don't really think there's any point in it if you're here watching for me." It was selfish, and he understood that, but it was the truth.

"Yeah, but I looked away for one moment, and-" He stopped, noticing Kenma's expression slipping further as he held his PSP to his chest. The scare he'd gotten had switched him out of friend mode and into the role of scolding captain. He took a deep breath, giving Kenma's shoulders a little squeeze. This time he was able to realize when Kenma's face reddened, and it helped soften his facial expression further. "Just be more careful. What good are you to the team if you're squashed?" He smirked, and Kenma just nodded.

Kuroo looked up and saw the light flashing to walk as the cars finally stopped moving. He let go of Kenma's shoulders and went back to his spot next to him. This time, however, he linked his own arm with the setter's, earning him another one of those blushes and a confused look. "Come on, let's go." He began to walk, and Kenma took that as his queue to begin as well, having to walk normal rather than at his usual leisurely pace.

"Kuroo, I know how to cross the street. You don't have to hold my arm." Kenma frowned, though his face was still quite red. Kuroo just laughed.

"Yeah, but this way you can play your game, and I don't have to worry about you walking off a cliff." Of course, he left out the part that it was a decent excuse to be so close to the other. It gave him his own warm feeling, but his wasn't quite so apparent on his facial expression. If there was anything Kuroo was good at around Kenma, it was keeping his demeanor so the other wouldn't realize he had feelings of his own that crossed over the friend line.

Kenma nodded at him, eyes shifting back down to his game. He began to press the buttons again, this time slower than before. It was actually hard to concentrate when he was walking arm in arm with Kuroo. Didn't he realize people might get the wrong idea if they saw them? It wasn't like Kuroo was never close to him. They had sleepovers all the time, sharing the same bed even, but they weren't hidden behind walls this time. Even so, a small smile crept up on the setter's face as they continued to walk home.


	2. two

_Down, right, left, square, up._

Kenma hit the buttons on his controller with a little too much force as he sat in front of his television in his room. It was evening time now, and he'd been finished two hours ago. Still no sign of Kuroo. At least he still had his games to occupy him. This is what he would have been doing all night anyways had Kuroo not asked him to hang out. This is what he always did. Other kids at school often talked about how Kenma had no life, but to him this was life. The only thing he enjoyed more than gaming was Kuroo's presence. Kuroo was the only reason he played volleyball in the first place.

The door to his bedroom opened up behind him, and Kenma glanced over without hitting the pause button on his game. His heart jumped a little in his chest upon seeing Kuroo, but he forced his eyes back to the screen. "It's almost over. I can't pause." He was playing an online first person shooter, so he couldn't exactly just up and leave without trashing his score. He wasn't one to care much for stats, but he'd been doing awfully well today.

Kuroo waved his hand to dismiss the subject as he walked over toward Kenma's bed. "Yeah, yeah, I know the drill." He smirked, taking a seat and feeling himself sink into the soft mattress. He picked up the case of a game Kenma had laying on his bed, and flipped it over, casually acknowledging the pictures on it. "Do you want to play split screen after this?" Kenma asked, and Kuroo looked back over at his cat-like friend who still hadn't changed out of his Nekoma jacket. "The other controller is on the charger..." He was still attacking his controller with fast fingers.

"Nope," Kuroo responded with a chuckle. "We're going out tonight instead." Kenma raised an eyebrow, finally finishing up his game. It went to the stats screen, and he glanced over them before backing out of the lobby he was in.

"Out?" Kenma stood up and turned around, giving Kuroo a very questioning look.

"Yep. Out. But... you might want to change first." Kuroo looked him over. Admittedly, he looked awfully cute in red, but he didn't think a team jacket was proper attire for where they were going. Kenma looked down and acknowledged his own clothing before looking back over at Kuroo.

"This is fine." He didn't feel like changing. It didn't really matter to him where they were going, so why would he bother changing? "Honestly, I'd kind of rather just hang out here..." His eyes glanced down, afraid to see Kuroo's disappointed face.

"How about..." Kuroo got up, long legs headed in Kenma's direction. When he reached him, his hand reached for the setter's hand, and he laced his fingers in between his. "No." Kenma could feel his heart skip a beat as he looked down at their intertwined fingers. His hand looked especially tiny in Kuroo's. Before he could protest against what had happened, Kenma was already being dragged in the direction of the door.

The entire walk felt rushed, and Kenma had trouble keeping up as Kuroo dragged him along by the hand. Kenma spent the entire time wondering if his heart was ever going to slow down. There was a lot of protest leaving his lips on the way, but Kuroo continued to shut him down. There was a slight irritation in Kenma's mood, but in his defense he being pulled along to some mysterious unknown destination. He'd also not had the chance to grab any of his hand held gaming systems. He didn't even have his phone.

The worst offense, even worse than being without any games, was the torture of holding Kuroo's hand. Yes, torture. It was cruel to be held in any way by the object of his affection, because it made his mind run away with thoughts of how it could be if the world was actually a good enough place to let him have what he actually wanted. It made him think about how this hand was never going to actually be _his_ hand. Then his mind went as far as to wonder who else's hand Kuroo had been holding lately. Kenma never asked him about girls, and Kuroo never really bothered to tell him, but Kenma knew they existed in his life. Their other teammates would often make jokes and comments about them during practice. There were also times when girls would approach Kuroo while Kenma was around, but Kenma usually took that as his cue to leave.

Despite the warmth of Kuroo's hand, Kenma's face was wrinkling up into a less than pleasant expression as he stared at the ground in front of him. Finally, Kuroo stopped walking, causing Kenma to stop just behind him. "We're here," Kuroo informed him. Before Kenma even looked up, he became aware of the music roaring into his ears. His face became even more unpleasant as he looked upward slowly. Just as he thought. There was a house in front of them with teenagers scattered all over the lawn with red cups in their hands. Inside lights were flashing and people could be seen dancing through the window.

Slowly, Kenma turned his head to look over at Kuroo who was smiling nervously at him. Kenma's frown seemed to thicken, and Kuroo's smile only wavered further with his anxious expression. "A... party?" Kenma was in disbelief that Kuroo would think for even a second that he'd want to be anywhere near a party. He avoided other people. The introvert life was the life for him. He was on the opposite end of the scale from party animal. He'd already joined the volleyball team in an attempt to make Kuroo happy. Wasn't that enough?

"Surprise?" Kuroo's answer wasn't amusing to the setter, and it caused him to turn around to begin walking away. He would've continued had Kuroo's grip on his hand not gotten tighter. Again, his heart was doing that annoying thing were it thumped against his chest harder than normal. Kenma turned his head to look back at Kuroo, and his expression started to falter from the frown. It was being replaced by one of fear brought on by social anxiety. "Please, Kenma? I promised I'd go to this thing, but I was really regretting the choice after practice because I'm kind of not in a party mood today. I felt more like hanging out with you, so having you there will knock out two birds with one stone."

"I'm sorry, Kuroo... But I'd really rather not." Kenma tried to start walking again, and this time Kuroo let his hand slip away. Cold air hit Kenma's fingers, and he actually started regretting the decision that caused their hand holding to end so quickly. He turned around one last time to say goodbye to Kuroo, but found his heart being stepped on instead at his friend's disappointed look. It wasn't like he didn't want to spend time with him... Kenma sighed. "Fine. An hour or two couldn't hurt..."

Kuroo's face shifted slowly, almost like he didn't believe what he'd heard at first, but eventually it landed on a small, satisfied smile. "Don't worry. It's not like I'm going to leave your side."


	3. three

Kuroo and Kenma had been at the party for almost a half hour now, and already it felt like Kuroo had talked to at least a third of the people there. He'd tried to include Kenma every time, but Kenma instead chose to awkwardly shift around at his side and not utter a word. This really wasn't his scene, and all he wanted to do was go home. He wondered how much longer he'd have to hang around before it was safe to try to leave. If this was a better world, Kuroo might agree to leave with him. Unfortunately, he was really doubting that'd be the case.

"Kuroo! Come join us over here!" A girl's voice rang out from the crowd, and Kenma looked over in her direction. It was a blond girl with bright blue eyes sitting in a circle on the floor with many other students. Some he recognized, but the majority of them he didn't. Kuroo started walking, and Kenma followed just behind him. "We're going to play spin the bottle. You'll join us, right?" She gave him a sly smile, and Kuroo just smirked at her.

"Yeah, sounds like fun." Kuroo looked over at Kenma and gave him a sly smile. It wasn't that he particularly wanted to watch Kenma kiss people, but maybe if he thought he'd be able to kiss girls he might have a bit more of a fun time. The thinking was irrational considering the two of them didn't even talk about girls together.

"I'm not playing that." Kenma frowned at him, and Kuroo gave him a pouted look. The setter's face stiffened further. "No way..." He had no desire to watch Kuroo locking lips with some random girl or any girl for that matter.

"Just one round? We can get some food and go home after that." Kenma rolled his eyes at Kuroo's words and let out a sigh.

"Fine." Kuroo's face brightened as he watched Kenma take a seat in the circle, trying to scoot over enough to make room for him. He failed, and Kuroo ended up taking a seat across from him on the other side of the circle. This made Kenma feel even more uneasy, but Kuroo continued to throw glances and winks his way to try and make him a little more comfortable being around so many strangers.

The game was dragging on. People were shyly kissing each other, going around in a circle, and Kenma couldn't even believe there were actually people who found this fun. He glanced over at Kuroo, attempting to read his expression. Was this his idea of fun? He still hadn't kissed anyone yet. Kenma was actually dreading it, and that's when he noticed that it was actually Kuroo's turn. The setter swallowed hard, as his captain glanced over at him. He thought about smiling to throw him off course from realizing how annoyed he was by this, but he didn't. Smiling in a place like this would probably look even more suspicious.

"Here goes nothing." Kuroo chuckled as he reached out and spun the bottle. Kenma watched it go around and around with an intensity in his eyes like no other. Who was it going to land on? Who was he going to have to watch Kuroo lock lips with?

Unable to bear it any longer, Kenma shifted his eyes away. That's when he heard all the girls start squealing. Confused, he looked back at the bottle. His eyes widened slightly. It was pointed... at him. He looked back up at Kuroo whose mouth was agape as he stared across the circle at his best friend.

In all honestly, Kuroo had wanted it this way. He'd just never thought it'd actually happen. He cleared his shocked expression, and turned it into a sly smile as he shrugged. "Ah, well, guess it can't be helped." If this was going to make Kenma uncomfortable, he could at least try to make it seem like one big joke. "Pucker up, Kenma." He smirked.

Kenma had just continued to stare as Kuroo started crawling across the circle on his hands and knees in Kenma's direction. The girls were still squealing, but Kenma couldn't hear them anymore over the beat of his own heart as he watched Kuroo come even closer. The blocker stopped in front of him, and re-situated himself into a more comfortable sitting position. Kenma had never kissed anyone before. His first kiss was going to be... Kuroo. The idea of that made him even more nervous.

"Don't worry." Kuroo winked at him. "I won't bite... much." Kenma's eyes widened further, and this time some of the squeals coming from the girls were too loud not to hear. Kuroo was doing this for their satisfaction. The flirty comments made that all too apparent. For some reason, girls seemed to find this stuff appealing, and he was running with that.

Kenma felt himself shaking, but it stopped when Kuroo brought a hand up slowly and pushed his blond hair behind one of his ears. He was smiling at him, but it was an unknown smile to the setter. It was a rather seductive one, and Kenma had never seen it before. His shaking might have calmed down, but his heart was ramming into his chest. The same hand that had pushed his hair back moved to caress his cheek.

Slowly, Kuroo began to lean in and close his eyes. Kenma's eyes dropped to the other's lips. They looked soft, and he wondered if they were going to feel that way too. He only got to think about that for a moment before Kuroo's lips pressed into his own. Cheeks heating up, Kenma's eyes shut. His heart skipped a beat, and he became more flustered when Kuroo didn't retreat after just a peck. The squealing became louder still as Kuroo moved his lips against Kenma's. It was confirmed. They were soft. Softer than he'd imagined. Kenma sat frozen, unable to move, but Kuroo seemed to be doing just fine as he'd kissed him even faster.

One of Kenma's hands found its way to Kuroo's chest, resting it there. He could feel his heart beat against his fingertips. It was moving just as fast as his own. He must have felt really weird kissing a boy, let alone his best friend. That should have been Kenma's cue to find a way to stop this, but instead, something he'd never thought he'd find himself doing happened. His lips began to move. He started returning Kuroo's kiss. His movements were slow at first, but then he found himself trying to catch up to Kuroo's speed. The captain pulled away for a moment to take in a breath of air, and Kenma assumed that was going to be it. It wasn't. Kuroo's lips came back, and Kenma found himself clutching onto the fabric of his shirt with all of his might.

The circle grew silent. There were a few gasps, but Kenma couldn't hear anything. All he could focus on was kissing Kuroo, and his entire body began to tingle. He felt like he was suffocating, but he continued on until he just absolutely couldn't. Kenma pulled back and loudly gasped for air. Kuroo looked like he was trying to catch the setter's lips again, but stopped when he noticed Kenma's eyes looking around at the group. Their expressions were blank, almost confused. They hadn't expected the show to go for quite so long. Kenma hadn't expected it either. His face felt like it was on fire. He didn't look back up at Kuroo. How could he? He'd gotten way too into that, and Kenma wasn't the type to try to show off for girls. It would have been obvious to Kuroo what was going on.

Kenma used his hands to push off the ground. It felt like all the blood was rushing to his head as he stood straight up. "I have to go to the bathroom," he said, spitting the words out far too fast. His brain was swimming, and he was walking away before Kuroo even got the chance to protest.


End file.
